For drying or airing fabrics such as clothes and the like it is widespread to hang the fabrics on lines or cords in the fresh air or in a laundry room. Such a hanging provides for an efficient gentle drying with low environmental impact compared to other drying methods such as using a tumble dryer or the like. For fixing the fabrics on the lines and preventing the fabrics from falling off the lines pins or clothespins are commonly used.
Conventional embodiments of such clothespins comprise two legs which are connected to each other at about half their length via a hinged joint. The clothespins further comprise a spring forcing the two legs to tilt such that they are pressed against each other at their first length ends. For fixing a fabric hanging on a clothesline such clothespins are arranged such that the fabric and the clothesline are clamped between the first ends of their legs by a clamping force applied by the spring. For an improved fixing, the first ends of the legs are often provided with gripping means such as small teeth. In order to release the clamping force of such a clothespin, typically the second length ends are pressed towards each other, e.g., by a thumb and an index finger of a hand of a user. Thereby, a force is applied against the spring force of the spring and the legs are tilted in an opposite direction such that the first ends of the legs are moved apart.
Typically, such clothespins consist of three assembled parts, i.e. the two legs and the spring. Thereby, in a manufacturing process such assembling can be a comparably complicated step having an impact on the overall manufacturing efficiency. Also, particularly when being often used, the parts of such clothespins can fall apart. Further, the legs are usually made of wood or a plastic material and the spring is usually made of metal such as steel. Since wood usually is sensitive to weathering and steel corrodes over time particularly when getting wet, such clothespins are often not very durable.
For providing an improved clothespin in terms of manufacturing complexity and durability, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,768 A suggests a similar clothespin comprising a first leg, a second leg and a spring structure. The spring structure is arranged to tilt the first leg and the second leg towards each other into a clamping position. In this clamping position a fabric is clampable between first ends of the first and second legs. In contrast to the clothespins mentioned above, the spring structure is shaped as an elastic curved bridge connecting the first and second leg at about have of their length. Thereby, the first leg, the second leg and the curved bridge are integrally formed as one piece, e.g, made of a plastic material.
However, in operation the clothespins of the art normally need to be pressed at the one length side of their legs. In particular, the legs need to be pressed together on their one ends in order that the open at their other ends. This pressing usually is performed by at least two fingers of a hand of the user wherein the user has to hold the according clothespin in the inside of his hand. Thereby, the hand is more or less occupied by operating the clothespin such that the use of the hand for other purposes such as, e.g., holding and positioning a fabric is inhibited. Furthermore, for carrying a plurality of such clothespins, they often are held in the inside of a hand such that the hand is again not free for other purposes.
Therefore, there is a need for a durable efficiently manufacturable fabric pin allowing a convenient operation via a hand of a user with the hand being available for other tasks in the meantime.